A couple of updates from the SALT conference in Las Vegas:
– Ray Nolte of SkyBridge Capital, which notched big gains off of residential mortgage-related bets last year, said the firm had trimmed its exposure to the space by 25% from last year and would probably reduce it further, as its return potential wanes.
Instead, he is moving money into event-driven equity strategies and continuing to invest in bank restructuring and bank recapitalization trades, he said. Europe was looking appealing too.
“People have been talking about the European trade probably going back 18 months to two years now. We haven’t seen the right entry time,” he said, “but now you’re beginning to see some of those opportunities emerge.”
– Todd Builione, president of Highbridge Capital Management, said the firm was moving money to stock-oriented strategies “partly as a result of the macro environment being more muted.” Some of the best opportunities are in Asia, Mr. Builione said, where there is less competition chasing ideas than in the U.S. and hedge funds based there tend to be focused on betting on and against stocks.
Source: WSJ MoneyBeat
